The sound of bashing and smashing echoed through the empty void as one person could be seen under the shining light trying to break an indestructible wall of souls. They glittered like diamonds as they reflected the light into the nothingness and the young man's eyes.

"How long?..." A lone Asian man asked. As expected, there were no responses. He chuckled before taking another punch at the wall. Like thousands of needles have impaled him at once he gave a loud cry of pain. "Must I endure this pain?" but he did stop there. He gave the wall another punch and yet again the same pain surged through his body. looking down at his knuckles he could see them intensely bleeding.

Kenji didn't know where he was, nor could he remember how he got here. Trying to think about anything would cause a painful headache as if his mind is restricting his thoughts. But in the growing seconds, he was becoming more and more impatient. From what he remembers he had just awoken in this void of total darkness before a light guided him to this very place. To where the wall lies, the Wall of Souls as it was labelled by the flashing symbols that occasionally appear in Kenji's visions. The symbol told Kenji that freedom was beyond the wall and hence why he's been trying to demolish the wall for the past hours if not days.

Once again, multiple flashes of light fill Kenji's vision as the second pass by. Another symbol then flashes around him.

'Trapped'

"Life? Like Forever? An Eternity?" Kenji gave a hard chuckle at the Kanji Symbol. "Is that so?!" He punches the wall yet again.

The light intensity increased as the young man couched to the floor in pain, revealing his surroundings. Kenji was stunned and yet afraid... His heart started to beat faster than he could handle the view. His stomach started to feel uneasy as he did not mentally prepare for the scene.

A mountain of piled skulls could be seen surrounding him and the wall. Its skeletal surface was decayed and was covered with dirt showing the age of the skulls. Its head creepily turned and locked on to Kenji as he made his every move. The skull then started to laugh at the young man. Kenji covers his ears trying to ignore the sound and turns back to the wall.

But all that shock would come to an end when Kenji turns his back to the wall. As he looked up Kenji was in awe. It's not just a wall but a mountain.

Suddenly, Kenji's vision was filled with multiple symbols that appeared for only a second and then disappeared. Some were unknown, but many Kenji could identify. Those symbols that he identified as Japanese Kanji.

Pain, Mercy, and Regret. Those words burn deeply into Kenji's mind. Those words then started to merge into one symbol which gives out,

Grief.... that word surrounded Kenji. The word flashed everywhere he tried to look, he tried to back away from the wall as far as he could, hoping that would solve the situation but unknown to Kenji, it was about to get worse.

The ground started to shatter as he approached the wall of skulls and the young man started to descend into a free fall.

Another symbol appears for a split second. Before Kenji was plunged into a sea of water. His vision was now nothing but darkness as his body slowly sank motionlessly into a deep pool of water.

"The voice... The symbols... It consumes me..."

Deep inside Kenji's mind, Kenji heard those voices, and again the same symbol flashed, now Kenji could make out what it says. The symbol was his name, Kenji spelt in Japanese Kanji. The character keeps flashing in his vision for a few minutes before it stops for a few seconds and another word appears,

'Wake up'

The alarm rang as a traumatised Asian man awoke from yet another nightmare he had. But at this point, Kenji is not surprised as he knew his mental health was growing more hazardous. Not only is he having more weird dreams, but he has started to hallucinate voices that echo through his mind, all either shouting for his first or last name and weird-looking symbols that occasionally flashes through his eyes.

Kenji never went to the doctors, fearing they'll list him as mad; he could already foresee the scenario in his head a thousand times over. And as for his friends... Well, they saw enough to think Kenji is insane. There's no chance of redeeming himself, not after what he did to Korrina. Kenji gave a heavy sigh and started to prepare for the day.

As always Kenji would begin his day by entering the bathroom, but as he did a flash of light sparked from the corner of his eyes to which Kenji naturally turned hastily to investigate. As usual, his mind is playing with him again. Kenji sighs deeply then another flash appears and again he turns to see what it is, but it was nothing but his reflection in his mirror.

Kenji stared deeply into his reflection seeing the messiness of his face. His beard has slightly grown longer than usual, and his hazel eyes were bloodshot from the drinks he had last night.

The realisation struck Kenji deeply.

The scruffiness of his face and the sorrow in his eyes made him think about the choices he made. The number of mistakes that have been left undone.

Nobody wishes to be his friend, and certainly, nobody will be.

'Look at you... freaking bastard.' he thought. Kenji reaches for the razor and begins to shave.

Gradually, his mind then diverts from the past to the present, not only did he again fail to hand in his work for the university, but he'd also forgotten to check on his mother who was in the hospital.

Kenji's relationship with his mother was varied, ever since his father abandoned the family, she's never been the same.

As the oldest of the siblings in the family, Kenji would be tormented and pressured by his mother to succeed to the point she kicked him out of the house for a whole year. All it did was worsen Kenji's mentality. But Kenji knows she just wants her oldest son to be the best he can be, he understands why. But that's him from today speaking, not him from fourteen years ago.

It's a pain to be putting up with a stubborn mother but that's not always the case. On a few occasions, his mother would take him and his sister on holiday to Japan to see their grandparents. That was possibly one of the most memorable times he had with his family.

'Pain'

A Japanese Kanji character flashes in Kenji's view as he was shaving, but this is nothing out of the ordinary for him. It usually happens from time to time when Kenji is in emotional distress or when he is in deep thought. He had this for almost twelve years now and it took him a while to get used to it. It's nothing too serious. It's just some annoying words, sometimes it could be random symbols that Kenji can not understand, or it could just be a voice echoing in his mind.

After shaving, another light flashes from the mirror but this time Kenji's temper got the best of him. He angrily clutches his left fist and swiftly jabs the mirror, putting a giant crack on his reflected face. Momentarily after the pain surged through his left hand, causing Kenji to curse as loudly as he could. Suddenly, another flash appears but this time it flashes a bright blue symbol.

'Regret'

"I know! I know!" Kenji looked at the mirror to see unknown symbols flashing and glitching around his face. He quickly runs the cold water on the tap and splashes a face full of water to hopefully cure this insanity. But it did the opposite, the symbols again translated themselves into Japanese Kanji characters which translated to Kenji's very own name.

'Kenji'

The characters keep flashing in his visions, no later than how tight he shuts his eyes he could see these symbols flashing. In a panic, Kenji rushed out of the shower room. The flashing would stop immediately as he left the room, and there Kenji sighed in relief.

'Kenji...' the voices repeat. "Wake up!"

Kenji's eyes widen and hastily he jerks his head in every direction to see his surroundings. It was just pitch black but his body was emitting a pale blue light that outlines his body.

Kenji didn't understand where he was nor could recall how he got here. Attempting to think about how he got here would result in a painful headache, almost as if his mind is prohibiting his thoughts.

Suddenly a series of lights twinkle in his vision,

The symbol repeated itself several more times before the Asian man crouched anxiously as he started to beg for the symbols to stop. Soon the symbols would intensify in the thickness of the font and size as it was followed by a loud echo that overwhelmed his thoughts.

'Kenji...' the voices repeat.

'Kenji!'